Implement with side screening plates and soil roller

ABSTRACT

A harrow has an elongated frame beam supporting a row of rotatable soil-working members mounted side-by-side on upwardly extending shafts. The frame beam and row of soil-working members extend transverse to the direction of travel of the harrow. At each lateral end of the row, a screening plate is positioned and pivoted to the frame beam. Each screening plate extends in a substantially vertical plane in the general direction of travel. Also, each plate has a lower support portion that rides over the ground and side edges that are inclined upwardly. The screening plates are supported on arms that can be pivoted to relocate the plates 180 degrees so they can rest in inverted positions on top of the frame beam during transport. A roller is pivoted to the frame and positioned to the rear of the soil working members and the screening plates are located between the roller and the members, when seen from the side.

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 567,695 filed Apr. 14,1975 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,997 which is a continuation of Ser. No.393,026 abandoned, filed Aug. 30, 1973, which is a division applicationof Ser. No. 172,511 filed Aug. 17, 1971 U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,689.

According to the invention, there is provided a rotary harrow of thekind set forth, wherein substantially vertical screening plates aremovably arranged adjacent the opposite lateral ends of the row ofworking members, said plates being provided at their lower edges withsupport portions which ride over the ground during operation of theharrow, the support portions joining rearmost edges of the plates withrespect to the intended direction of operative travel of the harrow andsaid rearmost edges being inclined upwardly and rearwardly relative tothat direction.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the samemay be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way ofexample, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a rotary harrow in accordance withthe invention, and

FIG. 2 is a side elevation corresponding to FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the rotary harrow that is illustrated has aframe which is afforded principally by a light but strong hollowbox-shaped beam 1 that extends substantially horizontally perpendicularto the intended direction of operative travel of the harrow which isindicated by an arrow A in FIG. 1 of the drawings. The beam 1 has aplurality (preferably twelve) of soil working members 3 rotatablymounted beneath it in a single row with the individual members inadjacent relationship with their neighbours. Each soil working member 3is rotatable about the axis of a corresponding upright shaft 2 and eachshaft 2 is rotatable in a corresponding substantially vertical bearingthat is fastened to the bottom of the hollow frame beam 1. The lowermostend of each shaft 2 carries a corresponding elongated tine support 4carrying two tines 5 at its opposite ends.

The shafts 2 are preferably spaced apart from their neighbours byperpendicular distances of substantially 25 centimeters and, since theperpendicular distance between the tips of the two tines 5 of each soilworking member 3 is of greater magnitude, the strips of ground worked bythe individual members 3 overlap one another to produce, in effect, asingle broad strip of worked ground during a traverse of the harrow.Each end of the hollow frame beam 1 is provided with a corresponding arm8, the two arms 8 extending rearwardly with respect to the direction Aand being turnable about substantially horizontally aligned pivots attheir leading ends. A soil compressing member in the form of a roller 9is rotatably mounted between the rearmost ends of the two arms 8 whicharms can be retained in chosen angular settings about their pivotalconnections with end plates 12 of the beam 1 by entering locking pins orbolts 10 in appropriately chosen holes 11 of arcuate rows of such holesthat are formed in generally sector-shaped rear portions of the endplates 12. It will be apparent that the holes 11 that are chosen toco-operate with the locking pins or bolts 10 effectively determine theworking depths of the tines 5. It can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2 of thedrawings that the roller 9 is not a smooth-surfaced roller. The rollerhas a central rotary shaft around which eight tubular ground-engagingmembers are movably arranged in regularly spaced-apart relationship withthe aid of seven supports rigidly secured to the central shaft of theroller.

The screening plates 14 are arranged adjacent the opposite lateral sidesof the row of soil working members so as to be contained in planes that,during operation of the harrow, are normally substantially vertical andthat extend substantially parallel to the direction A. Each plate 14 isprovided at its lower edge with a support portion which rides slidablyover the ground during operation of the harrow. The support portionextends through a length which is substantially half the length of theupper edge of the corresponding plate 14 and integrally joins leadingand rearmost edges of the plate with respect to the intended directionof travel of the harrow. The leading edge is inclined upwardly andforwardly whereas the rearmost edge is inclined upwardly and rearwardly.

The upper edge of each screening plate 14 comprises a part which joinsthe part forming that edge. The plates 14 are turnable in brackets 25 onthe top of frame beam 1 about substantially horizontal and alignedpivots 26 that define a substantially horizontal axis and extendparallel to the direction A on top of the beam 1, pairs of rigidprofiled arms 13 being employed to couple the plates 14 to thecorresponding pivots. The arms are connected to the plates by means ofsubstantially vertically extending parts which are located adjacent eachother. When the harrow is being transported without performing anyworking operation, the plates 14 and arms 13 are preferably, but notessentially, turned upwardly through approximately 180° about theirpivots 26 so that the plates 14 can lie in inverted positions on thebeam .

The arms 13 of each screening plate 14 each have a substantiallyvertical portion 13a and a substantially horizontal portion 13B thatextends beyond the lateral side of frame beam 1. The portions 13a and13b join one another directly above plate 14 as seen in FIG. 1 andimmediately above beam 1, as seen in FIG. 2. The portions 13b divergefrom one another to their pivot connections with brackets 25 which arepositioned a substantial distance from the lateral side of beam 1 sothat when the plates 14 are placed in inverted positions to rest on topof beam 1, the arms 13 and plates 14 do not extend to the lateral sidesof frame beam 1. As seen in FIG. 1, the pivots 26 are spaced from thelateral sides of beam 1 by a distance that approximates the distancebetween the shafts 2 of adjacent soil-working members.

A trestle-shaped coupling member 19 constructed to co-operate with thelifting links of the three-point lifting device or hitch of anagricultural tractor or other vehicle is provided substantiallycentrally at the front of the harrow and has its upper region connectedby two inclined strengthening beams to regions at the top and rear ofthe beam 1 that are spaced from the center of that beam. A gear box 20is mounted on top of the beam 1 immediately to one side of the centerthereof and has a forwardly projecting splined or otherwise keyed rotaryinput shaft 21 that can be placed in driven connection with the powertake-off shaft of the tractor or other vehicle, to which the couplingmember 19 is connected, by way of a conventional telescopic transmissionshaft having universal joints at its opposite ends. The rotary shafts 2of the soil working members 3 are rotated in directions that arerelatively opposite to their neighbours by a train of intermeshingpinions that are contained inside the hollow beam 1 and that are poweredfrom the input shaft 21 by way of bevel pinions contained within thegear box 20.

In the use of the harrow which has been described, it is moved over theground which is to be worked in the direction A with each soil workingmember 3 rotating in a direction opposite to its neighbour orneighbours. The screening plates 14 at opposite ends of the row of soilworking members 3 are arranged in the operative positions shown in FIGS.1 and 2 of the drawings with the arms 13 turnable freely about theirpivots so that said plates 14 can move upwardly and downwardly as may berequired to match undulations in the surface of the soil over which theharrow is travelling. The roller 9 acts to break up any remainingsurface lumps in the soil and effects a degree of compression of theworked soil sufficent to avoid excessive and rapid drying of that soil.It will be remembered that it is the vertical setting of the axis ofrotation of the roller 9 relative to the level of the remainder of theharrow that principally governs the effective working depths of thetines 5.

What is claimed is:
 1. A harrow comprising an elongated frame extendingtransverse to the normal direction of travel and a plurality of adjacentsoil-working members supported in a row on said frame, drive means beingprovided for rotating said soil-working members about upwardly extendingaxis and each of said members comprising a substantially horizontalsupport with at least one downwardly extending tine, a substantiallyvertical screening plate being normally positioned adjacent eachopposite lateral side of said row, said plate extending in the generaldirection of travel and having a lower edge, said lower edge beingpositioned to ride over the ground during travel, said plate beingpivoted to said frame through arm means and said arm means extendingfrom said plate upwardly and then substantially horizontally, in thelongitudinal direction of said frame, said arm means being pivoted tothe frame a substantial distance from the lateral side thereof and saiddistance corresponding substantially to the distance between the axes ofrotation of two adjacent soil-working members, said plate being freelyturnable upwardly and downwardly to match ground undulations duringtravel, a soil compressing roller being connected to the frame bypivotable supports, said roller being positioned to the rear and spacedfrom said row and said plate being positioned between the roller andsaid soil working members, when viewed from the side, to screen thespace between the roller and said members.
 2. A harrow as claimed inclaim 1, wherein separate arms of said arm means are connected to saidscreening plate and said arms having portions that normally extendsubstantially vertically and are positioned adjacent each other, saidarms having further portions that extend substantially horizontally overand above the top of the frame to pivot connections.
 3. A harrow asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said lower edge has a support portion thatextends through a length which is substantially half the length of saidupper edge of said screening plate, said plate having a rearmost edgethat is inclined upwardly and rearwardly from said lower edge and aleading edge that extends upwardly and forwardly from the lower edge. 4.A harrow comprising an elongated frame extending transverse to thenormal direction of travel, a plurality of soil-working memberssupported in a row on said frame, said soil-working members beingrotatably mounted on upwardly extending shafts and each of said memberscomprising a support with at least one downwardly extending tine, asubstantially vertical screening plate being normally positionedadjacent each opposite lateral side of said row and said plate extendingin the general direction of travel, said plate having a lower edge thatrides over the ground during travel, said plate being pivotablyconnected to said frame through arm means and said arm means extendingfrom said plate and connected to said frame a substantial distance fromthe lateral side of said frame, said plate being pivotably connected tosaid frame and freely turnable upwardly or downwardly about an axiswhich extends generally parallel to the direction of travel of theharrow to match ground undulations, a soil compressing roller beingconnected to the frame by pivotable supports, said roller beingpositioned to the rear and spaced from said row and said plate beingpositioned between the roller and said soil working members, when viewedfrom the side, to screen the space between the roller and said members.5. A harrow comprising an elongated frame extending transverse to theharrow's normal direction of travel, a plurality of soil-working memberssupported in a row along said frame, each soil-working member beingrotatably mounted on a shaft having a substantially vertical axis andcomprising a support having at least two downwardly extending tines andeach of said two tines being spaced substantially the same radius fromsaid shaft, substantially vertically disposed screening plates normallypositioned adjacent the opposite lateral sides of said row and eachplate extending in the general direction of harrow travel, a soilcompressing roller connected to said frame and located behind said soilworking members, said screening plate being positioned laterallyoutwardly and immediately adjacent an outer soil working member, saidscreening plate having a lower edge adapted to ride on the ground duringtravel, arm means pivotally connecting said screening plate to saidframe, said arm means extending inboard from the screening plate andbeing pivoted to the top of said frame a substantial distance from thelateral side of said row, inboard of the shaft for said outer soilworking member, said plate being freely turnable about an axis whichextends generally parallel to the normal direction of travel, wherebysaid plate independently rides along the ground at levels both above andbelow the surface of the supporting roller during travel.